Arizona Cardinals Predictions

None of our 19 voters saw the Cardinals having a winning record in 2013. But new head coach Bruce Arians led the team to 10 wins, nearly guiding them to the playoffs.

Six of our voters -- Ron Wolfley, Vince Marotta, Craig Grialou, Ryan Lindsay, Jordan Byrd and Jules Tompkins -- had the Cardinals breaking even at 8-8 and were closest to getting their record right.

Who will be the Cardinals' leading rusher in 2013?

Veteran Rashard Mendenhall ended the season with a modest total of 687 yards -- 25th among team leaders in the NFL. While 15 of our voters picked the former Steeler to lead the squad in rushing, nobody got the correct number of yards.

John Gambadoro was closest -- his prediction was 750 yards. Carter Nacke was the closest without going over (Price Is Right rule) with his prediction of 550 yards.

After a disastrous 2012 season when Arizona allowed QBs to be sacked a league-high 58 times, there was improvement in this category. The Cards allowed Palmer to get sacked 41 times, which was tied for 14th-best in the league.

Awards

Offensive Player of the Year - Five of the nine who picked Manning to garner MVP honors also had him winning this award. Nice work Wolf, Burns, Lindsay, Tompkins and Carlen. Byrd also had Manning winning OPOY although he picked Drew Brees as MVP.

Defensive Player of the Year - J.J. Watt got the most preseason votes with six, but it was Carolina's Luke Kuechly (who had five votes) taking home the hardware. Who got it right? Calvisi, Marotta, Green, Nacke and Gibberman.

Offensive Rookie of the Year - Buffalo's EJ Manuel was the popular pick in September, but his season was derailed by a knee injury. Only one voter (Byrd) had Green Bay running back Eddie Lacy winning this award.

Defensive Rookie of the Year - The award went to Jets defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson, and only self-professed Jets superfan Gibberman got it right.

Coach of the Year - "Riverboat Ron" Rivera of Carolina won it, but nobody picked him in the preseason despite the fact that eight different coaches got votes.

Bold Predictions - Only three panelists got theirs right.

Doug Franz predicted Miami would not be eliminated from playoff contention until Week 17, which was the case when they lost 20-7 to the Jets in the final week of the season.

Bickley and Bloom both had Chip Kelly leading the Philadelphia Eagles to the playoffs after a last-place finish in 2012. That happened, making it 11 straight seasons at least one last place team has ascended to the postseason the very next year.